this morning on "early today" -- off and running. as the gop presidential field narrows, remaining candidates set their sights on new hampshire. slap shot. amateur video captures hockey fans facing off after the nhl winter classic. and peak performance. one of switzerland's most famous mountains gets lit up for a big one of switzerland's most famous mountains gets lit up for a big milestone. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello, very good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with next stop new hampshire. the going is about to get stuff as mitt romney looks to widen

the paper-thin lead he beat rick santorum by in iowa. michele bachmann has dropped out while texas governor rick perry says he is staying in. nbc's brian mooar has details now from washington. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. romney won iowa but his competitors are pointing out the glass was three-quarters empty. mitt romney's campaigning on home turf with a win in iowa under his belt, the endorsement of john mccain in his pocket, and a runaway lead in the polls. >> do you think we can do a little better here in new hampshire? yeah. >> reporter: even though romney beat rick santorum by only eight votes in iowa, it's a win. >> with romney, ron paul and rick santorum in the top tier as the three serious contenders coming out of iowa is almost -- it's the perfect scenario for the former massachusetts governor. >> reporter: santorum have-h virtually no organization but his iowa win was worth $1

million influx in contributions. >> we're doing okay right now. and if the people here in new hampshire give us a shot, my guess is we'll do a lot better. >> reporter: with michele bachmann now out and south carolina and florida weeks away, the other candidates see opportunity. >> i'm totally 66 more votes than in 2008 so you spent $10 0,000 per additional vote. >> i guess that means there's blue sky for the rest of us. >> reporter: if romney hold on to new hampshire, he'll be tough to beat. the latest polls out of new hampshire show romney has a 20-point lead on his closest competitor, who's ron paul. >> brian mooar in washington, thank you. politically provocative move, president obama bypassed senate nomination process yesterday appointing the head of a new consumer protection agency with a senate in recess. in ohio the president named richard cordray to be first director of the consumer

financial protection bureau, one month after senate rejected him for the post. while they threatened to take the matter to court, presidents of both parties have long used the method to appoint controversial. we'll learn about changes coming to the u.s. military adapting to what could be $1 trillion in budget cuts. they'll detail it at a pentagon briefing. the army is reported to cut troops by 80,000, leaving 490,000 soldiers. marine corps is expected to trim by 10%. the navy and air force would see less of an impact. the cuts would force a shift away from the policy of being ready to fight two ground wars at once. well, the german man accused of being the new year's eve arsonist has been charged. harry burkhart faces 34 counts of arson. bail was set at under $3 million and ordered to surrender his

passport. prosecutors say he use aid device to accelerate fires. now there's word burkhart is under investigation in germany after a fire at his family's home in frankfurt days before he left. a violent brawl broke out between hockey fans after the winter classic in philadelphia. police released video. the attack caused one of the victims, an iraq war vet and new jersey police officer, to be hospitalized with a concussion. no arrests have been made. a car thief's getaway came to a bizarre ening on the roof of one california apartment building. the suspect was speeding when he hit a curb, causing him to launch into the air. adding insult to injury, police captured the driver after he broke his leg jumping from the roof. and finally, quick thinking and technology got a montreal

photographer into the united states after forgetting his passport at home. he showed a vermont border guard a stored image of the document on his ipad. although he should have been denied access, officials gave him a break after determining he was not a threat. he also got back into canada with that ipad passport. and now for a look at your national and regional weather nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. something tells me that's the wave of the future anyway. >> your wallet won't be this thick anymore? you can have a digital wallet. >> you might fly, everything goes in my back berry, you scan it, there you go. >> we'll get together and print it together. good morning, everyone, let's stick to the forecast. we're watching cold air exiting. one cold spot left, in northern new england. windchills in the teens. we're much better in areas like pittsburgh, philadelphia, and d.c.

as far as the 24-hour temperature change. i said it would be a quick shot of cold air and then it would be gone. we're looking at temperatures 15 to 20 degrees warmer for everyone on the east coast right now than yesterday at this time. when you leave this morning it's cold but not that bitterly cold air. notice we have another warm-up from denver to billings. we didn't have a cold shot in between. that is going to lead to some record warmth. maybe i'll call this a january thaw. but it was never frozen. a warm, mild pacific air mass spretding up to the border with canada and we'll see record highs in iowa, nebraska, south dakota, minnesota, a few record highs in california. this little cold we this is going to be gone. how warm is it going to be today? 58 degrees in billings, montana. montana should not be near 60 degrees this time of year. we'll be near record highs at international falls, minneapolis, kansas city looks gorgeous today with a temperature of 60 degrees. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window.

i didn't bother talking about rain or snow because there's none to be found. we're very dry across the country. we are watching a lot of sunshine out there today and temperatures will be nice. even florida is recovering with 70s once again in miami. the warmth sticks around, too, veronica. looks very nice. >> i'm sorry, were you doing weather? i was writing our ipad passport business plan. good news for netflix. c your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, it's one thing for them to have a reality show on some cable channel but they're ready to invade the space of an american icon. details next. coming up, a record-setting orange bowl. chicago cubs trade their ace. the longest goal you'll ever see. you're watching "early today."

very good morning to you. welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning. 31 inmates are dead after a fight aat a northern mexico prison. it started when a group of inmates burst into a section they're banned from. the fight may have involved rival drug cartels. we're getting the first pictures from a landslide that killed 25 people at a gold mining site in the southern pill peens. at least 100 residents in a village below may be buried under the rubble. government officials warned months ago the mountain was guaranteed to crumble. six police officers were shot and wounded last night trying to serve a drug warrant in ogden, utah. neighbors heard three quick pops and then a barrage of gunfire. a german artist is using the swiss mountainside as his

canvas. he's projecting images on the side of the mountains. he's living in a base camp almost 10,000 feet up. top of the line tuna has been auctioned off in japan. the bluefin went for $1200 a pound. the winning bidder owns a sushi chain and says he wants to liven up japan to help the country recover from last year's tsunami. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,418 after adding 21 points yesterday. the s&p was up a fraction. the nasdaq lost less than 1. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo, nikkei fell 71 points. but in hong kong the hang seng gained 86. stocks barely budged wednesday but investors were able to hold on on to gains from an impressive first year. alocoa and microsoft boosted the

dow while worries about europe's debt problems dragged bank shares lower. auto sales helped offset those w woes. netflix shot up 11% on news members streamed more than 2 billion hours of tv shows and movies online during the fourth quarter. 07 oil fell as concerned of europe's debt crisis worried. yahoo shares 3% after it named paypal scott thompson new ceo. photo pioneer eastman kodak is reportedly getting ready to file for chapter 1 1 bankruptcy protection. more than 1200 boeing employees will be out of work when it stops operations in wichita, kansas, by the end of next year. at&t has agreed to pay tivo $215 million plus monthly licensing fees to settle a patent

infringement suit. adele shows u.s. album sales were up 3%, the first rise for the music industry since 2004. good news for you tax deadliners. the irs has pushed back its filing deadline to april 17th this year. april 15th falls on a sunday. and then the 16th is a holiday in washington, d.c. lucky you. big name trade in baseball. a big name upset in college hoops. and the rarest of goals in soccer. plus, west virginia grinds clemson into puchlp at the oran bowl. we have record temperatures in the middle of the country but will that warmth head to the east coast next? your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

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very good morning to you. if we're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the west virginia mountaineers barely ekeed but last night in the orange bowl they looked like the top ranked team in the universe. here's nbc's fred roggin with a look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. every bcs bowl game has been a close one until last night. to the orange bowl in miami. clemson and west virginia. this was a good game for the

first quarter. then the mountaineers started to pull away. smith flipped the ball to tavon austin. looked like a handoff but a pass. he threw four of six touchdowns that way. west virginia up 21-17. next play changed the entire game. clemson a yard away from taking the lead. ellington stripped at the goal line. cook came out of the pile with the ball and he was gone. 99 yards the other way. this opened the flood gates. west virginia set a school and orange bowl record for points, embarrassed clemson 70, yep, 70-33. college hoops. temple beat a top ten team each of the last three years. this year third ranked duke. every time duke closed the gam the owls would knock down a shot at thor end. 78-73. marquette and georgetown went down to the wire. thompson, the dagger from the corner. hoyas took the lead with 2 2 seconds left. georgetown rallied from ten down

to beat marquette, 73-70. chicago cubs have had enough of carlos zambrano traded him to the marlins for volsted. nothing more embarrassing than being scored on by a goalie. everton, jim howard boot a 100 yard goal in bolton in the epl. took one big bounce and found the back of the net. fourth goal in english premier league history. it was supposed to make the debut for landon donovan. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >> announcer: "early today" sports is brought to you by touch of gray. get rid of some gray, never all. who is splitting up, who got back together and who has signed up for some big roles. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, for many, winter snow

is just a pain but there are others who just can't get enough of the stuff. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this thursday. yesterday we had 30 record highs broken across the country. i think we'll maybe double or triple that today. we may see some all-time january warmth. in other words, probably one of the warmest january days ever in areas of montana through the

dakotas, maybe even a few spots there in nebraska, too. look at this, 65 in denver today. we're going to be about 60 to 65 in areas from st. louis to kansas city today. tomorrow just a little cooler in the northern plains with temperature. that warm air, some begins to slide to the east pu. if you're watching us on wdtn tv in dayton, ohio, from sparkling gems to beads and leather uncover the story of how july jewelry connection to culture at more than a girl's best friend. >> that's my kind of event, bill karins. >> now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment where relationship news and contract signings seem to dominate. actress zoey and ben gibbard are getting divorced a little over a month after their separation. sechlto'connor says their d

is over. justin timberlake and jessica biel did get engaged during a holiday getaway in jackson, wyoming. hugh jackman has signed to play houdini on broadway. taylor swift has beat out michele, johansen, wood in the big role in the les miserable. james franco will write a fictional account of his life. barbie, world's most famous doll is getting three high profile new friends. yep, you guessed, it reality tv stars kim, kourtney and khloe kardashian. >> i'll be first in line. they'll be collector's items. >> did you see that? silence. nothing to say about that. >> why not? it's sac religion. we grew up with barbie -- that

is the ultimate nightmare. >> barbie, move aside. from news channel 8 in tampa, florida, where the sunshine state's recent cold snap brought out winter spirit in one homeowner. check this out. near record lows have put floridians in a deep freeze one resident is embarrassing the rare fridge ed conditions with the help of a snow-making machine they added icing to their arctic experience. the apparatus shourd the property with a dusting but treated the neighborhood to its very own winter wonderland. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. we're off to a quiet start on this thursday. maybe some snow flurries leftover from a system that came through last night. it will not cause any trouble. 28 at the airport. we start out with the clouds and maybe some snow flurries and then it will turn it summit with temperatures into the 40's. we will come back and check the forecast going into the weekend. >> 30 degrees on tv hill. a maryland man dies in san diego. his relationship -

>> the campaign trail now leads to new hampshire. how the candidates are stacking up. >> we have a couple of earl

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. thank you for joining us this morning. >> it feels a lot better than it did yesterday. >> it is in the 20's today. >> kind of warm. >> not as cold as yesterday. still a few snow flurries from the system that went through yesterday. 29 degrees